Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $87.71.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group cut their target price on Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup cut their target price on Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $65.99 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $67.69 and a 200 day moving average of $68.92. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $48.96 and a 12 month high of $81.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.82 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.97) EPS. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 184,107 shares of company stock worth $13,042,381. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 28,925.8% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $166,860,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,603 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Western Digital by 247.0% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,446,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,658 shares during the last quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP increased its stake in Western Digital by 75.2% during the third quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP now owns 2,030,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $138,629,000 after acquiring an additional 871,500 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Western Digital by 39.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $216,795,000 after acquiring an additional 810,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 24.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,711,428 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $253,453,000 after acquiring an additional 732,344 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.